Sippin' on the haterade

[Legator91]

I have experienced this situation a lot. My junior and senior year of high school my team ( 67, HOT) won worlds back to back. I remember hearing snide comments all the time. When we were on the field, in the pits, or just hanging out with other teams.

As a student on the team hearing these things really angered me. No team has the right to accuse another team of things, when they have no idea what goes on during build season. In 2009 our robot was designed by a then senior, his name was Nick Orlando. His design was then taken by our design team, made up of nearly 15 students, and was done in CAD, refined, and then sent to the machining group to make. I personally made parts for that robot. Whether it was on the water jet, lathe, mill, etc I made them. If you ask any mentor or student, other then training, every part is made by a student.

I spent nearly 40 hours a week making parts, testing, and assembling the robot. Winning that year was not because of an unlimited budget either, that was during the bankruptcy of GM, so other then the shop, our robot was nearly completely student funded. We rode to Atlanta on a city bus, with no storage, no air conditions, hard plastic seats, and it broke down while in Atlanta.(That's 722 miles)

We didn't win because it was mentor built, or from an unlimited budget. Our skill came from years of experience, great strategy, and the countless hours of work we students put into our robots.

So before you go bashing a team, maybe you should get to know them. Talk to the students, and find out what the team is really like.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Legator91

We rode to Atlanta on a city bus, with no storage, no air conditions, hard plastic seats, and it broke down while in Atlanta.

That's HOT.

[Gaurav27]

Originally Posted by Legator91

So before you go bashing a team, maybe you should get to know them. Talk to the students, and find out what the team is really like.

Originally Posted by Squeakypig

2) Stop ridiculing teams and start learning from them instead.

Guys, I totally agree. We're all mentors (note the obvious exclusion of students' opinions) in this thread discussing the gravity of this issue but really it seems there is a simple solution.

Don't just assume, interact with students on the team, find out how they're experience has been like. There is a reason why teams become elite, it is because they are doing things the right way. Why not just learn from them?

When in doubt, go to the grass roots and really review what FIRST truly values.